


A Ring and a Promise

by missditsydarcy



Series: "Perfect Mistakes" Verse OneShots [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Mpreg, anyway this made senpai cry so #winning ;), i was just as surprised as you are, i'll stop now, semi-explicit childbirth, who knew that these two sillyheads could actually talk things out tho??? :'D
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-18 14:57:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13683999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missditsydarcy/pseuds/missditsydarcy
Summary: ...Tobio blinks, dumbfounded, as a flood of emotions come crashing into his chest. He feels angry and hurt, betrayed and heartbroken. He feels like…that day five years ago, when his world fell apart and then walked away from him.He remembers, and feels, the stinging in his fingertips as he longed to reach out and make up with Hinata as he strut out of their apartment with his suitcase, as he looks at Shouyou in this moment with his soul wide open; a soul that anyone could take with just a single word. Tobio can almost taste the tears that he’d shed before he said the lie that tops the chart of the things that he most regretted ever saying—'I didn’t even want it to begin with'.Or maybe those are his tears now, as he continues to stare at Shouyou with emotion that he never wanted to share with anyone, ever; especially not with the one who was sitting in front of him now.He reaches out to hold onto Hinata’s hands, but Shouyou moves them before Kageyama’s got a full grip. He’s not going to be able to skate by this one.'You can’t fix everything with a ring and a promise…'





	A Ring and a Promise

**Author's Note:**

> HI HELLO! It is time for one of the fics that I am pretty proud of??? :'D  
> This was SUPPOSED to be, in the very beginning, a sequal prompt for "Perfect Mistakes" that had fluffy qualities...  
> I didn't get the message of fluffy, and also I have no self control...so this happened. xD  
> Anyways, as always, I hope you like it!

It was a fitful silence as Tobio sped down the road on the way to the hospital, save for a few grunts and moans from his beloved backseat driver; the kind of silence that almost reminded Kageyama of a despondent toddler, not that of a couple who were about to have a baby.

The night before Shouyou had spit out unkind words, such as _“bite me_ ,” or “ _d’ya wanna go_?” each time Tobio had brought up something that he didn’t want to hear. It had become rather routine, really, and as the days droned on Kageyama found it more difficult to put up with his heavily pregnant spouse, and he was sure that he was almost to his breaking point.

He’d called Suga for consult many times, especially in this third trimester, and each time he had said it was _normal_ , or he would bring up once again about how Hinata was going through a lot for this baby— _especially_ being just shy of two weeks over his due date. Obviously, Tobio would never know just how much Shouyou was sacrificing, but after this whole ordeal he wasn’t sure that he wanted any more children. At least not for another twelve, maybe seventeen years…

“Okay, Hinata, whatever it was that I did I’m _sorry_ , alright?”

“…you can’t be sorry if you don’t even know what you _did_ ,” Hinata gravels, gritting his teeth and rubbing his protuberance as he’s wracked with another contraction. His breathing is heavy as he arches his back against the car seat, undoubtedly trying to get comfortable somehow, an effort that he seems to abandon after two consecutive tries. “ _Dumbass_ …”

“You never tell me what’s bothering you in the first place,” Kageyama quips, taking a deep breath as he feels his anger bubbling up inside him with just one blow. He clears his throat, completing his turn at a stoplight, and rests his hand over on the center console as a peace offering, flexing his fingers in invitation for Shouyou to give them a nice squeeze. “Do you want to talk about it now??”

Hinata whimpers, slamming his head back into the headrest of his chair, Tobio can just about see his lips quiver as he’s undoubtedly reaching the climax of the contraction, and he flexes his fingers in response once again. This time, Shouyou takes the bait, squeezing Kageyama’s hand until his own knuckles grew white and Tobio could no longer ignore the impression of his husband’s gold ring against his own spindly fingers. He takes his eyes off the road for a second, and manages a soft smile in Hinata’s direction, but the aforementioned cannot see him through his closed eyes as his face is turned up to the sun visor of Tobio’s car.

“Not now,” Shouyou breathes after a couple of silent seconds. He gives Kageyama’s hand a different kind of squeeze, a squeeze that lets Tobio know he’s going to put aside their differences until a later time, a notion that he remembers receiving many times over the years, especially in high school. Kageyama bites his lip as Hinata’s hand relaxes against his own again. “I’m not bringing this baby into that kind of world…okay?”

Tobio nods his answer but makes an affirming noise just in case Hinata didn’t receive the message, sighing, as he makes the final turn into the hospital and begins to mentally prepare himself for the race that they’re about to run together.

_God_ , he thinks, as he looks over at Shouyou once more, who is rubbing circles in his protruded abdomen like he’s  trying to let their baby know—and probably himself as well—that everything’s going to be okay: _at least they’re together_ …

____________________________________________________

“Well, it looks like you’ve made it here in good time,” doctor Sakota says, smiling up at his patient from Hinata’s other end, coolly pulling off his gloves and sliding away in his stool to toss them into the trash can. He smoothly pumps two squirts of hand sanitizer in his hand and rubs it in with what seems like little effort before walking over to Hinata’s bedside to look at the papers pumping out of the machine that he was hooked onto for monitoring. “You’re three centimeters, so it doesn’t look like you’ve progressed any since the last time I saw you; but your contractions are ten minutes apart and seem rather strong so I’m confident that we’ll get this show on the road pretty quickly…”

Shouyou nods along with what his doctor is saying, a smile budding out from behind his visage, then retreating as his words progress, and leaning back into his bed once he’s finished, to properly assess his words.

“How…fast does this usually go??” Hinata about cries as he hears Tobio speak his own thoughts, and Shouyou reaches out to grab his husband’s hand.

“It varies from person to person. His mucus plug already dropped, but his water bag is still holding up, so, depending on what happens in the next few hours—”

“Can you, like, _break it for me_??”

The doctor shoots the couple a knowing smile, resting his hand on Hinata’s propped knee, and patting it a few times. “I can, but that’s something we usually like to let happen on its own. If it doesn’t happen in a few hours and you’ve dilated more, then we’ll go ahead and give it a little push… I know that it’s hard to wait and you’re excited, but we’re gonna do this the safe way, okay??”

Shouyou tenses up as he feels the beginnings of a contraction, shifting his weight as per his usual coping mechanism, a staggered breath seeping through his teeth as the doctor’s pocket beeps and he politely excuses himself and tells the couple that he’ll be back in a few hours, and to page him or the nurses if they needed anything before then.

Tobio eyes the paper that is snaking out of the machine and gingerly lifts up a part and looks closer at it. Two jagged lines crescendo the papers and it hits him all at once: they’re here, and they’re not leaving, _finally_ , without a baby…

He blinks blearily and then turns back to Shouyou who is gripping the sheets of his bed and puffing out hot breaths of air as he climaxes, and Kageyama swiftly slides his hand to connect with Hinata’s while his other rubs the ginger’s partially bare back.

“Hey,” Tobio says, in a softer tone than he imagined he was capable of. “Remember to breathe, okay? We didn’t spend all those weeks in Lamaze for nothing…”

“Breathing… _my ass_ ,” Shouyou lets out a breathy chuckle, clutching his husband’s hand for dear life, but contradictorily takes a couple of deep breaths anyway. “Just because Suga made us go doesn’t mean I learned anything…”

“Yeah…” Kageyama weakly supplies next, rubbing Hinata’s arm as he relaxes against him, as his hand continues his trek down Shouyou’s sweat-glazed back, trying his best to ignore how Hinata’s labored breaths were already getting to him.

“He’s just kidding about the _hours_ thing, right??” Shouyou asks after a couple of minutes, rubbing his stomach with one hand as he leans back and wipes at his sweaty brow with the other. Tobio knows he means this in a lighthearted way, but he still feels a pang in his stomach as he thinks about how they don’t know how long this is going to take. Would he be strong enough to watch Hinata go through this?? He thought he was, Kageyama thought he was ready, but was he really? “People go in here and come right out all the time…right?”

By the time Tobio pries himself out of his thoughts, Shouyou’s eyes were glistening with worried tears; and Kageyama quickly busies himself with climbing into bed on the other side and pulling his husband close. He nuzzles the crook of Hinata’s neck and peppers kisses in the area until Shouyou pulls him away and Kags’ heart about stops.

“A-another one, already??? It’s only been—”

“ _Kageyama…I can’t wait_.”

“I’ll press the call button,” Tobio says hastily, anticipating the worse, the pang in his chest seeming to grow with every beat of his heart. The last time Shouyou seemed this serious…no, he wouldn’t accept it ending like this—

“Kageyama, no,” Hinata says, holding out his arm and separating Tobio from both his thoughts and plans of pressing the button. His eye actually twitches as Shouyou directs his gaze with his clammy hands. “I need to know something, and I can’t wait for this to be over; not…if you’re going to hold me like that.”

Shouyou pushes back against Tobio until he’s sitting as far away as he can get without falling off the bed. He takes Kageyama’s hands and presses his lips against his husband’s knuckles as a couple of tears tag along for the ride. Tobio feels like he can’t breathe.

“ _Why did you marry me?_ I…wanted, no; _want_ something that I don’t know if you want too. If we’re going to sit here and bring this baby into a world where she’ll end up only having one parent…then I want her to come into this world with only one parent.”

Tobio blinks, dumbfounded, as a flood of emotions come crashing into his chest. He feels angry and hurt, betrayed and heartbroken. He feels like… _that day_ five years ago, when his world fell apart and then walked away from him.

He remembers, and feels, the stinging in his fingertips as he longed to reach out and make up with Hinata as he strut out of their apartment with his suitcase, as he looks at Shouyou in this moment with his soul wide open; a soul that anyone could take with just a single word. Tobio can almost _taste_ the tears that he’d shed before he said the lie that tops the chart of the things that he most regretted ever saying— _I didn’t even want it to begin with._

Or maybe those are his tears now, as he continues to stare at Shouyou with emotion that he never wanted to share with anyone, ever; especially not with the one who was sitting in front of him now.

He reaches out to hold onto Hinata’s hands, but Shouyou moves them before Kageyama’s got a full grip. He’s not going to be able to skate by this one.

_You can’t fix everything with a ring and a promise_ …

Suddenly, Tobio is glowering at all the memories, scowling at everything. How Suga sat him down the next morning after their engagement and told him with a firm grip that he still was going to have to talk this over with Hinata; _all of it_. Somehow, he’s been able to last this long; and like clockwork Shouyou decides the wrong moment to sort everything out.

Just as so, as if the baby heard his thoughts, Hinata doubles over, arms crossing over his contracting abdomen and groaning in a way that Tobio had yet to hear to date, and Kageyama instantly feels like the biggest jerk in the world. Why couldn’t he have just answered him??

Shouyou is just barely able to sputter his husband’s name before Tobio’s hit the call button and a nurse flies in so he can struggle to explain what was happening with a speeding heart and shaky hands.

All Kageyama’s able to muster as they fasten the mask over Hinata’s face, is to answer all of Shouyou’s questions in his heart:

_I married you because when I saw you in your lowest, all I wanted was to be with you and make you feel better… to protect you from ever having to feel that way again._

_And I’ve failed to do that…in every single way._

_I didn’t mean what I said. I know a part of me has always wanted our babies as much as you do, but I never know what to say. So, I said what I said because I was hurt, and I didn’t believe in **myself** … It had nothing to do with you and I’m sorry I dragged you along with me. _

_I’m sorry that I couldn’t go through it for you, I’m sorry I didn’t say what I wanted to say, but mostly I’m sorry that I didn’t try to say it, anyway._

_It’s all my fault; every single part. We would have a baby now if not for me. And even now it looks like I’ve ruined it again…_

 ____________________________________________________

When Hinata wakes up with Tobio looking worriedly down at him, he about jumps out of his skin in worry—

“K-Kageyama??” Shouyou sputters as he pulls off his oxygen mask, and he leans towards the aforementioned. “What happened? Where’s the baby; oh God, is she okay??”

“Sshh, it’s okay calm down,” Tobio says as he stands and wraps his arms around Hinata, giving him a squeeze that just about answers all of his questions.

“We had a bit of a scare, Shouyou-san,” the two hear the doctor say as he comes in and squirts hand sanitizer on his hands again before sauntering over and checking under the blanket at Hinata’s unmentionables. “We didn’t take your…size into consideration when we made a game plan. And, unfortunately it looks like your baby is a little bigger than we initially anticipated.”

“What does that mean??” Hinata asks worriedly, pushing himself to sit up further, and willing himself to not get out of sorts about the mention of his size, until he feels a strange sensation of pressure on his back. “Is she okay? Am I…gonna die??”

“She’s fine, and not in the least. We have two options. One, we could continue on with your original birth plan and wait and see how you progress. If your baby is unable to make it past your pelvis then we will perform an emergency cesarean. Or two, we could just go ahead and schedule a cesarean now, and nip it in the bud before more problems come up.”

“Which one would you recommend??” Shouyou asks, his lips quivering to save face for his deer-in-headlights look. Kageyama grabs his hand and gives it a squeeze, Hinata looking over to him to offer a weak smile before turning back to the doctor.

“Well, there are benefactors to either option. We put you to sleep because she shifted positions and cut off a little bit of your circulation, and the umbilical cord was cutting off the air supply to the baby and your body was reacting to try and figure out what was going on. Your blood pressure is a little elevated in response to all of this. Professionally, I would recommend the cesarean, because it’d be safer in the short term to remove the infant before problems occur, but the recovery process with the operation is much longer, and rather painful. However, you’re in great physical condition and the fetal heart rate has returned to normal after we attempted to reposition her and break your water bag; and we did an ultrasound and determined that there’s a good chance that she’ll be able to make it through safely, but it’s going to be a rather difficult process.”

Hinata takes a deep breath and squeezes his eyes shut, and then he opens one eye and peers over at Kageyama, who is looking intendedly in his direction. He shoots Tobio a weary smile and nods when his husband mouths for him to do what he thinks is best. Shouyou squeezes Kageyama’s hand before answering: “I think I could do it.”

_I’ve waited for this for a long time_ , he thinks. _I’m ready for anything_.

The doctor gives him a smile and pats Hinata’s knee again. “Alright, then I have good news! You’re about seven centimeters dilated! I would guess that in a couple of hours you’ll be ready to deliver.”

Shouyou’s eyes light up and then he looks worriedly down at his abdomen. “I don’t even feel anything anymore…is that normal??”

The doctor chuckles, his pocket beeping again, as he turns to leave; but he doesn’t speak until he’s already opened the door. “It is when you have an epidural. It really feels awful when you have to have your baby repositioned; and we wanted to be prepared in case we needed to do a cesarean…”

“Thank you,” Hinata says to the doctor, who’s already out the door by the time he says anything, but he’s looking directly at Kageyama, hoping that he’ll catch on that he’s talking to them both. But just in case, he pulls Tobio’s hand up to his lips just to make sure the message goes through. “I’m so glad you’re here, Kageyama…”

Tobio leans over, pressing his lips on Shouyou’s forehead and wrapping his arms around him in a way that emphasizes his words even before he says them: “ _Me too_.”

 ____________________________________________________

By the doctors blessing, four-and-a-half hours later finds Hinata on his side, bearing down to push. There’s a nurse holding his leg up and Kageyama’s faithfully at his side as he bites his lip and pushes until he feels like his insides are splitting open. The oxygen mask has found its way back over Hinata’s face but every once in a while he must stop in his trek to lean over a basin to vomit from exertion.

If anyone had asked him how long he had been pushing, Shouyou would have answered forever, but in reality it’s been two hours and fifteen minutes, something that he learns when the nurse leans over and asked the doctor if it was time to give up and go with the surgery.

The doctor leaned over and glanced at the machine which was still spitting out paper a mile a minute.

“His contractions are right on top of each other and the fetal heart rate looks good, so, Shouyou-san? If you’re still with me I think you can do this.”

Hinata gasps, just finishing his last bout of pushing, when Kageyama had counted out ten seconds, and he wheezes for a couple of minutes, pressing his face into the oxygen mask, before he starts to nod, but then vigorously starts shaking his head.

“K-Kageyama, I don’t think I can do this,” Shouyou wheezes all of a sudden, his breaths still as shallow as ever, his coloring grey and red as if he’s not getting near enough oxygen. “I’m not getting anywhere…and I’m so tired—”

Hinata doubles over all of a sudden and vomits, then proceeds to cry out as his eyes squeeze shut and everyone realizes that he’s pushing again.

“Y-you don’t have to keep going like this, you know? It’s okay if you want to just…”

Shouyou screams in response to Tobio, squeezing the life out of his hand as he bears down and the doctor tells him to rest after a couple more seconds.

“Please…” Hinata says hoarsely, pulling Kageyama’s face down to his level with the collar of his shirt. “Just help me finish this.”

“What do you want me to do?” Tobio asks desperately, pushing back his husband’s fringe as Shouyou tries in vain to lift himself up on his shaky arms.

“H-Hold me up—”

“I’m not sure you’re supposed to do that—”

“Kageyama, hold me up, _dammit_ , please…I need this…”

Suddenly Hinata’s wheezing is accompanied by the beeping that lets everyone know that the baby is in distress, and the doctor quickly tells Kageyama to do what his husband asks of him so he tries to lift his husband up by his underarms and finds that Shouyou is unable to support his weight, just like expected.

Then the doctor instructs Tobio to pull Hinata’s limp body off the bed and hold him up while the aforementioned pushes since the gravity will help the baby make its way down and out, and the position doesn’t seem to disrupt the umbilical cord. So Kageyama does just that.

In such close proximity Tobio suddenly becomes breathless, especially as the nurse reattaches the oxygen mask to Hinata’s face and the doctor instructs Kageyama to hold him in such a way that he’s able to see everything that he needs to see. He holds his hand out and Tobio about gasps as he sees a pair of scissors being handed over to the doctor who is busy looking at the machine to determine the best time to act; and then he could no longer see them anymore, but the doctor speaks before Kageyama has time to wonder what on earth he was going to use them for.

“Okay Shouyou-san, this is it. The gravity has helped the baby lower a little bit and she’s just about crowning so all we need from you is two good pushes, okay?? We’ll do the rest because I know you’re tired but can you give me two really good pushes?? On my count??”

Hinata nods, managing an affirming answer through his labored breaths; and just as soon as the nurse asks him if he’s ready the doctor gently tells him to begin.

It’s a lot harder for Tobio to manage to hold Shouyou up once he bears down again, in part because he feels so horrible for him and his feelings of inadequacy are quickly returning with a vengeance, and in another how much weight a person seems to gain when they’re using just about every muscle to complete a task. 

“Shouyou-san, you’re doing so great! Keep pushing!” the nurse encourages Hinata as she rubs down on his back and holds a light up so the doctor can see his work space. “She’s almost here, Shouyou-san you’re doing perfectly—”

“Do you want to feel? Put your hand down…” the doctor interrupts, and Hinata nods but he’s barely able to keep his head up on his own and Kageyama must move his chest enough for Shouyou to rest against him while he completes the act.

He has such a smile on his face as he looks back up, chin resting hard against Tobio’s chest, and it hurts but not enough for Kageyama to right him as the sun seemed to shine directly in his eyes.

“She’s really almost here, Kageyama! She’s really—aah!”

Suddenly the rest of the color has drained from Hinata’s face and he doubles over, a contraction that just about breaks the scales of the machine that Kageyama can see, as Shouyou drops to his hands and knees and cries out.

“I need to push, oh God, the feeling’s come back all at once—” then Hinata lets out a scream as he does just that, and Tobio finds himself falling down to look him right in the eyes as he does so, squeezing what he hopes is confidence into his hands, until the doctor says with a loud and serious voice that he needs to stop.

Both of their eyes gleam with concern as the doctor and nurse murmur about getting the cord from around the baby’s neck, and Kageyama wipes the tears out of Shouyou’s eyes almost immediately, attempting to soothe his husband even though he’s not sure that even he would really believe any words that he could say at this point.

“Hey, it’s okay things like this happen all the time. She’s okay, shhh—”

“Okay, Shouyou-san. This is it; just one more good push and you’ll finally have yourself a baby…”

The doctors’ words were reciprocated with two screams. One from Hinata, and one from a new source that was the most beautiful sound that either of them had ever heard in their lives.

 ____________________________________________________

She was a vision in peach; spindly, wrinkly fingers and rosy cheeks that only compliment the auburn fuzz of hair atop her fair head. She’s a vision that the young parents had never thought they would ever see. Their nurse had gone out of her way, thirty or so minutes after Miku’s birth to find a knit peach hat that was small enough to crown her, the little princess.

The baby girl was so named Miku, because it meant “beautiful” and “long time”, since she’s beautiful, and they waited a long time for her, something that Hinata explained to both Tobio and the nurse who was filling out the paperwork while they completed the baby’s first checkup—as Kageyama was simultaneously astounded how tiny the baby girl was, despite her gestational age, when the nurse nestled her onto the patient’s chest, into his waiting arms as she seemed to mold perfectly into Hinata’s bare chest, her father letting out a wet sob of adoration as soon as her skin touched his.

He kept playing the words back into his head: Miku came into the world at a beautiful five pounds and thirteen ounces, and was just under twenty-two inches long. Shouyou had playfully punched Tobio in the side, exclaiming that she obviously had his height genes and that he would get him for that later—and since that moment he’s barely been able to look away from her, a nagging thought in the back of his mind that said maybe if he would look away she would disappear.

In fact, he didn’t look away until Hinata was brought his supper and Shouyou began nagging him about how he should eat something too; but neither of them held fast their words and plans as Kageyama crawls into bed beside his husband and cuddles him close as they both stare at the baby in the bassinet.

“ _I can’t believe it…_ ” Shouyou whispers, the first to speak as Tobio peppers the side of Hinata’s face, tasting his husband’s tears as he rounds over to Shoyou’s clammy, chapped lips. “She’s…perfect.”

“I can’t believe _you_ ,” Kageyama mumbles, nuzzling Hinata’s cheek, his hand resting on Shouyou’s stomach that now seeps beneath the pressure of his touch. “You were really…amazing.”

“I can’t believe how much it hurts after it was all over,” Shouyou chuckles, wincing at his own movement, as Tobio nuzzles him further, presumably trying to hide the blush on his cheeks that Hinata can feel anyway. “I think I tore every single muscle down there…”

“Wouldn’t surprise me…” Tobio muses, and then he presses his lips against Shouyou’s ear to whisper. “Thank you so much; for…everything.”

“S-Shut up,” Hinata whimpers after another silent second, attempting to focus all of his energy on watching their baby girl stir in her bed right next to his own, instead of focusing on the meaning of those words. “If you’re nice to me right now it’s going to make me cry…”

Kageyama offers Shouyou a small and affectionate, but cocky smile as he shifts in his spot to wipe away his husband’s tears with his thumb before connecting their lips, greedily trying to stall the confession that he knows he really needs to make now that everything is all said and done. “I…can’t wait anymore—”

“Knock-knock,” the doctor greets, knocking belatedly on the door as Tobio rolls off of Hinata, and ultimately, the bed. He struts in as Shouyou wipes at his eyes and lips, looking at the paper chart that hangs off of the bassinet next to the hospital bed. “I thought you two would be enjoying little Miku, about now, or a good meal…”

“I was getting to that,” Hinata says in a small voice, looking longingly over in Kageyama’s direction, unsure if he’s asking for support or if he’s verifying his husband’s feelings on the matter. “I’m not…exactly hungry right now.”

“I suppose not,” the doctor smiles, glancing one more time at Miku before turning his full attention toward his patient, lifting up the bottom of his blanket and peering down there for the umpteenth time this day. “I wanted to see how our trooper is doing…?”

“Everything hurts,” Shouyou responds with a shy smile, rubbing his stomach in an old habit, then, reaching his hand to connect with Kageyama’s on the other side. “I feel pretty disgusting…”

“Yes, well, we have some hygiene guidelines for our episiotomy patients; my nurse will fill you in on them when the time comes. I see she’s already filled you in on the pain medication—so there’s not much more for me to do other than wish you well and make orders for a follow up to remove the stitches, unless you any have other questions…?”

Shouyou lets out a wet chuckle, uses his thumb to wipe away his tears, and gives Kageyama’s hand a squeeze before looking over to check with him before answering.

“It’s not a question, but—thank you, for everything.”

The doctor smiles, holds out a hand for Tobio to shake, and then reaches Hinata before audibly adding “my pleasure. Wonderful to meet you, miss Miku-chan,” he leans over and smiles at the sleeping baby. “You’re in for a lifetime of adventures…”

Hinata nods, stifling his sob with his hand over his mouth as he once again thanks his doctor, but he waits to turn into Kageyama’s embrace until after he’s left the room.

“It’s really happened,” Shouyou chokes into Tobio’s chest as the aforementioned climbs back into the bed and plants multiple kisses on his husband’s red head. “We finally have our baby, Kageyama…she’s really here, and she’s…real.”

Just like she’d been called, Miku suddenly begins to whimper, stretching in her little bed as her tongue pokes out and she makes a noise of discontent as Tobio lifts her up and cradles her closer and more gentle than anything he’s ever remembered coddling before, pressing his lips into her perfect forehead as he passes her over to Hinata so he can climb back into bed with his family.

“Mii-chan, Mii-chan,” Shouyou sings softly as he cradles her and kisses Miku’s head in the same area that Tobio had. “You don’t need to cry, everything’s okay… Daddy’s right here…”

“ _No, it’s not_ …” Kageyama suddenly says, eyes still locked on the infant. He looks down at his lap, his face hidden purposefully so Hinata can’t see his expression, his red cheeks. “There’s nothing okay about what I said…or _didn’t_ …dammit…”

There’s something about staring at his baby girl in this situation that makes Kageyama feel overcome by a new sense self—a new sense of purpose and of confidence; but he feels divided as this _new_ side of him compels the _old_ Tobio to let everything lose, to show every part of himself after such a trying time, and a time that feels so long ago after this day. He tries his best to combat these thoughts and feelings, but she’s _right there_ , and Kageyama doesn’t believe that he can look at her, look her or her father in the eyes until he does exactly that.  

Tobio wipes his nose on his sleeve, his newly dominating sense of responsibility and logic making his decision for him, against his own will, in part, as Shouyou places his hand squarely on Tobio’s back, rubbing it as their daughter squirms before falling back into a peaceful sleep, turning towards his body heat like she was exactly where she wanted to be; blessedly innocent and oblivious to her parent’s past quarrels, and rightly so.

“It’s okay; you don’t have to answer to what I said earlier—”

“No, Hinata; I need to say this, okay?? Please, just let me try and get through this in one piece…”

Shouyou bites his lip and fights against the tears that pool in his eyes, but all he can do is nod in response and hope that Tobio sees it.

“Getting married had nothing to do with wanting children. I wanted…after we lost the first baby—I didn’t know who I was for the longest time. But then I saw you, sitting on that damn stretcher, and the only thing I knew was that I never wanted to lose _you_ …and I wanted to keep you from feeling like that again, but I failed. And when you decided that you wanted to try again—”

Kageyama sniffles, and wipes his nose on his knuckle before he goes on, unable to make eye contact as he bears his soul—and Hinata is oddly thankful for this since he feels like he’s falling apart at the seams, just listening.

“I didn’t trust _myself_ … but then when you accused me of me not trusting you I was exhausted from worrying, and I didn’t know what to say—so I shut down, and my anger took over. 

“I never meant a word of what I said, and I was a mess the whole time you were gone. I sort of promised myself one night when I was alone in bed, that I would ask you to marry me the very next time I saw you…and, well, you know the rest.”

When Tobio is finally able to look over at Hinata, he sees that Shouyou is shaking, tears soaking his face and streaming down to the blanket Miku was sleeping in. Kageyama carefully places her back in the bassinet, his own hands shaking so hard that he feels like he shouldn’t even be doing this, feeling so raw and drained that he’s so guilt stricken, almost to paralysis, at the thought that Hinata feels ten times more awful than he in the moment, but he’s still assaulted by Shouyou’s embrace even before he’s able to crawl back into bed completely.

“D-dumbass,” Hinata’s voice is so quiet that Tobio can barely register the sound through his husband’s sobs. He’s barely able to feel his clammy fingers as he rubs Shouyou’s back in comforting circles as he waits to see if Hinata’s attempting to finish a thought. “I missed you more than anything in the world…and now I know I’ll always love you, even if you _did_ marry me for the babies. I don’t even care anymore, I’m just so happy you’re here. I’m s-so happy that Miku is ours. I wouldn’t have it any other way…”

Kageyama can just barely hear Miku whine behind him, the poor thing probably upset because of all the emotion in the room, but the two seem paralyzed on the spot, embracing each other in light of all that they’ve accomplished and all that they’re going to accomplish now that they’ve finally gotten what they’ve been hoping for, for the last six years. Neither thought they would ever feel such perfection, and neither cared how they looked at the moment as they were collectively healing, making silent promises with each touch and kiss, as each moment appeared to be even more perfect then the last.

There were no other perfect words that could be said, Tobio decides, as he delicately persuades Hinata to lie back in bed with a careful hand, other than—

“ _And you’ll never have to_ …”

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to follow me on tumblr!: https://l1nkp1t.tumblr.com/


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